Oenothera argillicola |
Oenothera macrocarpa |
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shale barren evening primrose |
bigfruit evening primrose, Missouri evening primrose, Ozark sundrop |
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Habit | Herbs biennial or short-lived perennial, strigillose and sparsely to moderately villous, hairs sometimes pustulate, pustules with green or red bases, inflorescence glabrous or sparsely glandular puberulent, sometimes also sparsely villous. | Herbs caulescent, strigillose or glabrous, sometimes glandular puberulent distally; from a stout taproot, sometimes lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect to ascending, green or red, unbranched or with branches obliquely arising from rosette or in distal 1/2 of main stem. |
moderately leafy, (1–)4–40(–60) cm. |
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Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 7–25 × 0.7–2 cm, cauline 6–13 × 0.4–1 cm; blade dark green, somewhat glossy, very narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, linear-elliptic, lanceolate, or nearly linear, margins flat, entire or remotely and bluntly dentate, sometimes with larger teeth near base; bracts persistent. |
cauline, (2.8–)3.7–12.5(–17) × (0.1–)0.4–3(–4.5) cm; petiole (0.4–)1–4(–6) cm; blade linear, lanceolate-elliptic, elliptic to oblanceolate or suborbiculate, margins entire or conspicuously or inconspicuously denticulate or serrulate, sometimes undulate, apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse or retuse (subsp. incana). |
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Inflorescences | curved with ascending tip, unbranched. |
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Flowers | opening near sunset; buds erect, 4–8 mm diam., with free tips subterminal, divergent and hornlike, 3–9 mm; floral tube 32–52 mm; sepals yellowish green to yellow, sometimes flushed with red, especially at apex, 27–38 mm; petals yellow to pale yellow, fading pale yellow to pale yellowish orange, very broadly obcordate or obovate, 25–42 mm; filaments 20–27 mm, anthers 9–13 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 60–85 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
usually 1 or 2, rarely more, opening per day near sunset, fading next morning, sometimes (subspp. |
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Capsules | spreading at nearly a right angle to stem, curved upward, sometimes secund, dull green or rusty brown when dry, narrowly lanceoloid to lanceoloid, 20–40 × 4–6 mm, free tips of valves 1–2 mm. |
papery in age, narrowly ellipsoid to lanceoloid, sometimes twisted (subsp. fremontii), winged, wings (2–)10–28(–34) mm wide, body (13–)25–70(–115) × 2–9 mm, dehiscent 1/4–1/3 their length; pedicel 1–12(–25) mm. |
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Seeds | 1.3–1.9 × 0.7–1.1 mm. |
numerous, rarely as few as 8, in 1 row per locule, obovoid, (2–)3–5 × 1–2.3 mm. |
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Macrocarpa | and oklahomensis) lasting for 2 days, weakly scented; buds with unequal free tips 1–11(–15) mm; floral tube (21–)35–140(–160) mm; sepals (20–)25–65(–75) mm; petals bright yellow, fading orange, reddish orange or mostly unchanged, obovate to very broadly obovate, (17–)25–65(–68) mm, usually with terminal notch and/or tooth, margin sometimes erose; filaments 13–40(–44) mm, anthers 10–24(–25) mm; style (45–)55–192 mm, stigma usually exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera argillicola |
Oenothera macrocarpa |
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Phenology | Flowering (Jun–)Jul–Oct. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Open sites on Devonian Brallier shale slopes, barrens, outcrops or adjacent roadsides in mid-Appalachian Allegheny Mountains. | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 150–700 m. (500–2300 ft.) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
MD; PA; VA; WV |
c United States; n Mexico; s United States
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Discussion | Oenothera argillicola is one of eight angiosperm species restricted to the Devonian Brallier shale barrens, but among them only O. argillicola and Trifolium virginicum occur throughout the shale barren region. Oenothera argillicola has plastome V and a CC genome composition. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Subspecies 5 (4 in the flora). Oenotheramacrocarpa is variable and has differentiated extensively in the Great Plains region. Each of the five distinctive subspecies occupies a different geographical and ecological situation. Only subsp. mexicana W. L. Wagner from Coahuila, Mexico, occurs outside of the flora area. In general, the subspecies are sharply distinct and each is characterized by a number of features, including pubescence, leaf features, flower and floral tube size, and size and morphology of the capsules and seeds. The five entities are treated as subspecies primarily because of their complete interfertility and extensive intergradation in any area of marginal contact. Intermediates are known between subsp. macrocarpa and subspp. fremontii and oklahomensis and between subspp. incana and oklahomensis. There is also some evidence that suggests past hybridization between subspp. fremontii and incana although there is no present contact between them. All subspecies are self-incompatible. Oenothera alata Nuttall (1818) is an illegitimate name based on O. macrocarpa and pertains here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | O. argillicola var. pubescens | Megapterium macrocarpum, M. nuttallianum | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Mackenzie: Torreya 4: 56. (1904) | Nuttall: Cat. Pl. Upper Louisiana, no. 56. (1813) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |